Discussion

The hotel Noriega’s (525 Sumner Street, Bakersfield; 661-322-8419; noriegahotel.com) offers Basque family-style meals with fresh cheese and house wine, even with breakfast. Breakfast is 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., with lunch at noon and dinner at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Superior Dairy Products Company (325 North Douty Street, Hanford; 559-582-0481) is a restaurant most well known for its ice cream, mainly its nine flavors: vanilla, chocolate, chocolate chip, strawberry, maple nut, lemon, banana, rocky road, and cookies and sherbet. For something different, try the ice cream sodas, or milkshakes so thick they can’t be eaten without a spoon. Open daily 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Pho N Seafood (924 North Court Street, Visalia; 559-732-3663) is a family-owned restaurant that sells pho, the Vietnamese soup with rice vermicelli, as well as dishes highlighting crab, lobster and shrimp. Open daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Superior Dairy is one of my favorite places in the valley. The portions here are tremendously huge and the staff is very good. Try the hot dog stand in the park across the street for some good dogs and then come here for dessert. Beware, the SOS sundae is enough to feed a small army.